On the Rotation of the Magnetic Field Across the Heliopause

Merav Opher, James F. Drake

Published 2013-10-02Version 1

There was an expectation that the magnetic field direction would rotate dramatically across the heliopause (HP). This rotation was used as one of the criteria to determine if Voyager 1 (V1) had crossed the HP. Recently the Voyager team concluded that V1 crossed into interstellar space last year (Gurnett et al. 2013). The question is then why there was no significant rotation in the direction of the magnetic field across the HP (Burlaga et al. 2013). Here we present simulations that reveal that strong rotations in the direction of the magnetic field at the HP at the location of V1 (and Voyager 2) are not expected. The solar magnetic field strongly affects the drapping of the interstellar magnetic field (BISM) around the HP. BISM twists as it approaches the HP and acquires a strong T component (east-west). The strong increase in the T component occurs where the interstellar flow stagnates in front of the HP. At this same location the N component BN is significantly reduced. Above and below the neighboring interstellar magnetic field lines also twist into the T direction. This behavior occurs for a wide range of orientations of BISM. Thus, the BN component at the V1 location and the associated angle delta=a sin(BN/B) are small (around 10-20 degrees), as seen in the observations (Burlaga et al. 2013). Only after some significant distance outside the HP, is the direction of the interstellar field distinguishably different from that of the Parker spiral.